Peoria-area Notre Dame fans traveled south for football, but their journey will be remembered for a deadly terrorist attack [Video]

NEW ORLEANS (25News Now) – Some people from the Peoria area were among tens of thousands visiting New Orleans for the New Year and for the college football playoffs.

Instead, they wound up too close for comfort when a suspected terrorist rammed his pickup truck through a crowd in the famous French Quarter, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.

The driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, allegedly drove through barricades at Bourbon and Canal Streets around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, then was killed during a gun battle with police.

“To come home after New Year’s and wake up to this is stunning,” said Peoria County Regional Schools Superintendent Beth Crider, who is in New Orleans to watch the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia.

Crider said Bourbon Street was thriving just after midnight when she walked back to her hotel.

“Anywhere, something like this can happen, and it’s just such a …